The Drudge Report is reporting that Gen. David Petraeus may be a serious candidate for the V.P slot with Mitt Romney. Apparently even Barack Obama thinks it’s a possibility; he quietly told a top fundraiser this week that he believes Romney will pick Petraeus. There is some evidence that Romney met with Petraeus in New Hampshire.
Petraeus has said repeatedly that he has no political ambitions, but someone rising to the top of the military certainly must have been ambitious to begin with.
The idea of picking Petraeus is rather odd; he is already working in the Obama Administration as head of the CIA, and one crucial mistake George W. Bush made when he was elected was refusing to fire many of the Democrats who were left over by the Clinton Administration (unlike his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who was sanguine about canning any holdovers).
Additionally, Petraeus is a political moderate, and Romney knows that John McCain’s leaning toward the left cost him plenty of conservative votes in 2008. The Tea Party would not be enthused, young people would not care, the huge Catholic vote (which could be encouraged by Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, or Marco Rubio, all Catholics) would not be as excited, so it’s a questionable pick at best.
Romney has been clear that the primary issue of this election is the tattered state of the U.S. economy. Picking Petraeus does nothing to strengthen that appeal, and despite the fact that Petraeus was successful in Iraq, the fact that Petraeus has no qualms about working closely with Obama is enough to make any conservative squeamish about the prospect.